(Denver, Colorado), March 5, 2012 – Trudy Kareus, Colorado Farm Service Agency, State Executive Director reminds dairy producers that they must meet Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program requirements in order to maintain program eligibility in the event that prices drop and trigger a MILC payment.

“At this time, MILC payments are not being made because the price is above the trigger level,” said SED Kareus. “FSA just wants producers to stay on top of eligibility requirements should there be an opportunity for payment,” she said.

To maintain program eligibility, MILC participants must notify their local FSA office of any operation changes, such as a change in producer, shares, address or bank routing number. In order for dairy producers to receive a MILC payment, they must meet adjusted gross income (AGI) requirements by completing, “CCC-931 – AGI Certification and Consent to Disclosure of Tax Information.”

Dairy producers who want to enroll in MILC must fill out, “CCC-580 – Milk Income Loss Contract” and select a start-month for which the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) will begin issuing payments to the dairy operation. Current dairies that participate in MILC can make changes to their start-month with certain restrictions.

According to SED Kareus, any start-month changes must be made on or before the 14th of the month before the selected MILC production start-month. The change must also be made before requesting payment and before the original MILC production start-month has passed.

Changes to the dairy operation start-month must be designated on FSA’s form, “CCC-580M – Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) Modification.”

For more information about the MILC program, please contact the Name County FSA office at Phone or visit the web at: www.fsa.usda.go/milc.